STOCK MARKET TAKES A HIT
Hefty losses in health care, tech stocks drive markets sharply lower.
Hefty losses in health care and technology companies led U.S. stocks sharply lower Tuesday, handing the market its biggest pullback since August and its worst two-day drop since May.
The broad slide, which briefly sent the Dow Jones industrial average down by more than 400 points, erased some of the big gains the market had racked up since the beginning of the year, though the market was still on track to close out January with a gain.
Banks, industrial companies and energy stocks also accounted for a big slice of the market’s losses.
“This was a market that was overbought and it was vulnerable to something pulling it back,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “That said, we’re in the heaviest part of earnings season this week and we expect to see the majority of the reports coming out to be positive. That could be the catalyst to have buyers come in.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 31.10 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,822.43. That’s the biggest one-day drop since August 17. The Dow had its biggest decline since May, losing 362.59 points, or 1.4 percent, to 26,076.89.
Health care companies were by far the biggest losers on Tuesday. The sector finished with a loss of 2.1 percent. It’s still up 8.1 percent this year.
Insurers, drugmakers and distributors slumped following news that Amazon was teaming up with JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway to create a company that helps their U.S. employees find quality care at a reasonable cost.